Cllr John Bell North Ayrshire

Well this might be my last entry as we are heading towards the elections on May 3rd. Been a very busy month trying to get a lot of loose ends tied up before the Election itself. We've been busy delivering leaflets throught Kilbirnie and Beith. Actually this is the part I most enjoy, meeting and talking to people.

Mangaged to get a small committee together to organise a civic week program, and they have chosen a Queen and attendants, so that should run in the last week of May. My Surgery was quiet this month with only 3 cases but it did fall on the Easter Holiday weekend. I've been really busy with case work though, there is nothing like delivering an election leaflet to boost the numbers of calls to my house.

As the election gets closer the campaign is getting very messy and I seem to be the main target of the independents locally. Every local issue is blown out of proportion and becomes a subject of a letter writing campaign. Among the political parties there have been some gaffs by the opposition candidates, the Tory candidate is making promises to prioritise council housing lets toward local residents, which sounds good but is totally illegal under the Housing Scotland Act. The SNP are promising to replace the council Tax with a local income tax, but for the first two years freezing the tax at current levels, this will mean 2 years of inflation rate decreases in real terms and makes no account of the wage demands of council employees. They are also promising to increase spending on free preschool, and out of school care which would be very expensive, but have made no mention on where they will cut services to fund these new commitments. They do however mention bringing in "one stop shops" for Council Services and as we currently have Housing, Social Work, Registration and Police Offices in Kilbirnie it could mean the closure of 3 of the offiices currently used.

Attended the final meeting of the Garnock Valley North Coast Area Committee which was held in Skelmorlie on Friday the 2nd. The meeting was the last Chaired by Largs Conservative Richard Wilkinson who is standing down at the elections, while I disagreed with his politics Richard was always able to be pleasant and interested in others.  

Surgery on the 3rd was quieter than normal a few complaints about housing repairs and dog fouling. Other meetings this month included Property Services, Corporate Policy, and the full council. I attended a Strategy Meeting at SPT where there priorities for the next 10 years were identified, and was successful in getting the A737 included along with a proposed hub at Ardossan.

Beith Labour held a Coffee morning to raise fund for our election campaign which was well attended and included visits from MP Katy Clark and MSP Allan Wilson.

We held another meeting of Kilbirnie Town Centre Management Initiative which was again well attended. Officebearers were elected and the group heard fom Robert Kirk of NAC on the logistics of installing improved Christmas lights.

I had a meeting with Jim Traynor of WJ Knox Ltd one of the largest employers in the town and was advised of the issues affecting their business.